Thursday, November 19, 2015

Guest Designer for Frilly and Funkie! Oh! Christmas Trees!

Hello, crafty friends! I'm so excited today to be joining the girls over at Frilly and Funkie as Guest Designer for Cec's challenge theme "An Altered State"! I decided to transform a yard sale Styrofoam cone, some old sheet music, jingle bells, and half pearls to make my Christmas trees. I ended up purchasing two additional cones from my local craft store, because everyone knows you can't have just one tree! I saw trees similar to these on Pinterest a long time ago, so I can't take credit for the idea. But it was fun making them in my own personal style.

These trees are going to be gifted to my daughter's voice and piano teacher for a table decoration for his Christmas recital, so I wanted to include a nod to music. Here's the before photos...

I started with my sheet music, which I cut into strips, then swiped on Picket Fence Distress paint randomly. Next I added random areas of texture paste, and sprinkled with Rock Candy and Tumbled Glass Distress Glitters. When dry, I rolled the strips on a skewer to make curls, which I cut about every 1/4 inch to make "eyelashes". You can see an example of this on the cone pictured above. The strips were hot glued around the cone in layers. I wasn't happy with the brightness of the sheet music, although it is vintage. I spritzed the finished tree with Vintage Photo distress spray to make it more vintage looking. So much for my attempts at a glittery look!!! To get some of the glam back I sprayed with Ranger Perfect Pearl spray, and gave it a good dusting of DecoArt Glamour Dust. These trees really sparkle in real life, but I just couldn't capture the glitz with my phone camera.

I followed this procedure for all three trees, however I grabbed the Rusty Hinge spray by mistake to spray on the smaller trees. Because I was spraying outdoors on a terribly bright day, and therefore color blind, I didn't realize my error until I brought them inside! Yipes! One vintage tree and two rusty ones! Raise your hand if you've ever made that big of a goof before! Too late to start over, and cursing like a sailor, I marched those trees right back outside and gave them a blast first with Vintage Photo spray and then with my brand spankin' new DecoArt Shimmer Mister in White. Agggghhhh! It came out in globs! Oh, well...I just threw some Glamour Dust at it while the mister was still wet and called it done. (If anyone has tips for me on how to use my mister, I welcome your suggestions!)

While my soaking wet trees dried, I proceeded with the embellishments. For the largest and smallest trees, I used half pearls as Christmas balls. To alter them, I brushed on Ranger Multi Matte medium and shook on Distress Glitter in Tumbled Glass and Pumice Stone. Once dry, I misted with Vintage Photo Distress spray.

For the medium sized tree, I altered some shiny gold and silver toned jingle bells. I wanted the gold ones to appear silver and the shiny silver ones to have an aged look. I used silver Mixative and Mushroom alcohol inks on the gold bells, and when dry, very lightly dabbed on Black Soot Distress paint. I used Mushroom alcohol ink on the silver bells followed by the Black Soot paint. It's very subtle, but does give them a vintage feel. In the first photo the ones on the right are the "before"; the ones on the left, after I used the alcohol inks but before I added the paint. The second photo is an action shot...Roger, the cat, took a swipe while I was photographing! Tee Hee!

The violins (maybe they're really cellos, but I want them to be violins) are from the Tim Holtz Little Things stamp set, inked with Jet Black Archival ink, and blended with Vintage Photo. I fussy cut them and edged in Walnut Stain Distress ink. Although I did not take photos from all angles, the embellishments continue around the trees, so they would be pretty from any vantage point.

"Sleigh Bells Ring" is part of a Close To My Heart stamp, which I inked with a marker, so I could just get the quote and not the entire image. I stamped this on scrap card stock and hand cut the banner. I blended on Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain and flicked on some water.

"Christmas Carols" is part of a Tim Holtz Holiday Collections image, also using marker so I could isolate just the quote from the image. Again, I hand cut the banner and inked as above.

The quote on the largest tree is from Momenta and inked in Archival, Jet Black. The flag was hand cut, inked with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain and added to a stick pin I covered with Pumice Stone Distress Glitter.

Each tree is topped with back to back Tim Holtz' Snowflake Rosettes and Mini Snowflake Rosettes. These were cut from white card stock blended with Tumbled Glass distress ink. Once assembled, I spritzed the backs with Perfect Pearls spray in Turquoise and smudged a little on the center's, too. I swiped on texture paste, and while still wet, sprinkled on Rock Candy Distress Glitter. When dry I smudged with a little Walnut Stain Distress ink.

Sadly, my trees were not inspired by cheerful Christmas memories of when I was younger, because we did not celebrate Christmas. I try harder to make my own family's Christmas really special with traditions and special decorations (and lots of them!), so my kids will have good memories. I remember as children, we were not even permitted to sing the Christmas carols sung at school or participate in Christmas plays. I always felt so left out at this time of the year. So these trees are sort of a "So there, take that!" to those bad memories I have of Christmas time as a kid. Happily, I have lots of good Christmas memories from when I was finally able to make them for myself! And I DO believe in Santa!

That's it for today! I want to thank Cec and the girls at Frilly and Funkie for inviting me to join them today! Be sure to visit these talented artists to see their amazing transformations!

-Our Creative Corner "Topsy Turvy" My topsy turvy is the mistake I made using the wrong color spray to start and the unfortunate way the Shimmer Mist came out, which all just turned out fine in the end! I hope this makes sense!

34 comments:

Wow Sara, I love them even more now that I have some insight into how you put them together! I love the pumice stone glitter, that was brilliant and really adds sparkle! So much work and tlc went into these, but it was worth it! You have inspired me to get back to my own Christmas decoration making! Thanks so much for joining us today at Frilly and Funkie as our Guest Designer, it is such an honour to have you!! hugs :)

Oh Sarah! You made me smile while I was reading your post (things going pearshaped I definitely understand! )Your trees are so beautiful! I love that sparkle and music paper is one of my favourite things! Congratulations on your GD spot and Thank you for joining us at Try It On Tuesday! Chrisx

What a sensational grove of trees! They all look wonderful to me so I can't say that the Rusty Hinge was a problem! I'm really wishing the camera could pick up all the lovely sparkle. I'm sure they are a complete knockout IRL! Thanks again for guest designing over at Frilly and Funkie this week, Sara Emily. We are always delighted to have you joining us!

Congratulations Sara Emily! really well deserved! What a fabulous project - you are such a talent, I love the effects you have - and the mistake turned out brilliantly! Love Roger the cat got into the picture!! Made me laugh! Cxxxx

Congratulations on your GD spot - you totally knocked it out of the park!! These are amazing!! Wow!! I love every detail!! The sheet music is such an awesome touch!! I love the curled edges!! The colors are amazing...even the Rusty Hinge tree :) You did such a fabulous job with these!! I would hate to give them away!! So, so gorgeous and inspiring!! Have a great day :)

I LOVED them when I saw them at F&F but seeing how you put them together makes me love them even more - this was such a wonderful and clever idea and they will be just perfect at your daughter's recital! Did I say how much I love them...... Hugs, Anne xx

These are totes Frilly, Funky and Fantabulous! What a swell idea to change boring foam into these beauts. I can't imagine the time it took to create all those curls! 209+ hours? You must be exhausted and so happy with the outcome. I never would have known about the rusty blowout because these all look stunningly perfect dearie! Thank God you aren't dead and thank goodness you are still creating so many wonderous designs! Huge Hugz to you muffin! And Happy Holidays! ~Punkin

Oh My Gosh, these are so fantastic when I look at them up close. I loved the music paper when I first saw them but now I see little musical instruments and music sentiments to add to the beauty of these trees. I am envisioning all the sparkle and how fabulous they will look on the table at the recital. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with such short notice. It is much appreciated and you knocked it out of the park.

FYI - I have a love, hate (mostly hate) relationship with spray bottles and misters. They never and I mean never want to spray for me so I shake them really well, take the cap off, put a bit on a natural sea sponge and dab it on my project. It looks like the spray and I am stressing about it. Oops, I just gave away my secret so please don't tell a soul :)

My lips are sealed! Thank you for the tip! I'll give it a try,and will just have to look for something else to curse over! Thank you for all your sweet words and your invitation...I had FUN making these!

These are absolutely gorgeous! I love them! thanks so much for sharing with us! thanks for joining us at Use Your Stuff and make sure you join our blog hop for a chance to win a great prize from Emerald Creek Crafts! Tammy DT

These little trees look stunning Sara, the music paper looks fabulous, especially with the addition of the musical instruments, and I bet they do sparkle and shimmer in real life.Thanks for sharing with us at TioTAvril x

Absolutely, positively, fabulously, incredible!! And I don't even see your goofs!! You my dear are so freakin clever!! And your writing makes me laugh every time!! lolTell the kitty thanks for the extra giggle- I love it!Truly beautiful Sara Emily! You are a genius , my dear! xo Jackie

Beautiful, gorgeous, vintage style trees.....just love them! Thanks so much for sharing your favourite recent Christmas memories at Stamps and Stencils...think it makes them all the more special and worth cherishing. Hugs Ruth xx

WOW WOW WOW Sara - these Christmas trees are absolutely stunning!! The details are gorgeous. So happy you shared with us at Mixed Media World for our challenge this month. I am so looking forward to see what you create next.